Chinese Orange Chicken made with crispy fried chicken covered in an authentic orange sauce. The ultimate Chinese Orange Chicken Recipe which is way better than take-out.
My kids are always begging me to take them to grab Chinese food. They are obsessed with orange chicken but I am never really sure what’s in it….especially if they get it from a drive-thru. I wanted to create a version at home, made from scratch, with only ingredients I can pronounce. It still has the same incredible flavor they love. It’s definitely a win-win in our home.
It is winter time in Arizona which means that the citrus is ripe for the picking. I am surrounded by neighbors who have a plethora of fresh oranges and lemons hanging from their trees. This is the perfect time of year to whip up orange and lemon dishes especially this Chinese Orange Chicken.
This Chinese Orange Chicken is made with boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces, dredged, and then fried until golden and crispy. The orange sauce is divine! It is a sweet orange sauce made with orange juice, vinegar, garlic, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, red chili flakes, and orange zest. It is both sweet and spicy and full of flavor.
How to make Chinese Orange Chicken at home:
- Start with boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs. Cut into bite-size pieces. Dredge the chicken in whisked eggs and cornstarch/flour mixture until nice and coated. Get these chicken pieces ready for the oil.
- To make your homemade orange sauce, place orange juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and red chili flakes in a small pot and cook over medium-high heat. Add cornstarch and water and cook until thickened. Stir in orange zest.
- Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. When frying foods, it is so helpful to use a thermometer. Let the oil heat up to 350 degrees. Once the oil is ready, in batches, cook chicken for about 2 minutes until light golden brown. Repeat with remaining chicken.
- Remove from oil and drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Toss fried chicken with the sweet orange sauce. Top with grated orange zest and green onions. Serve immediately.
- 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts cut into bite-size pieces
- 3 Eggs whisked
- 1/3 cup Cornstarch
- 1/3 cup Flour
- Oil for frying
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- 1 cup Orange Juice
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar or White Vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce use tamari for a gluten-free dish
- 1/4 teaspoon Ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder or 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 1/2 teaspoon Red Chili Flakes
- Orange Zest from 1 orange
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
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- Green Onions
- Orange Zest
- To make orange sauce:
- In a medium pot, add orange juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and red chili flakes. Heat for 3 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 Tablespoons of water to form a paste. Add to orange sauce and whisk together. Continue to cook for 5 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken. Once the sauce is thickened, remove from heat and add orange zest.
- To make chicken:
- Place flour and cornstarch in a shallow dish or pie plate. Add a pinch of salt. Stir.
- Whisk eggs in shallow dish.
- Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture and then flour mixture. Place on plate.
- Heat 2 -3 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Using a thermometer, watch for it to reach 350 degrees.
- Working in batches, cook several chicken pieces at a time. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes, turning often until golden brown. Place chicken on a paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat.
- Toss chicken with orange sauce. You may reserve some of the sauce to place on rice. Serve it with a sprinkling of green onion and orange zest, if so desired.
This Orange Chicken is going to make you forget take-out. Let me know how it turns out by reaching out on instagram at @modern_honey. Have a great night, my friends!
Excellent! The chicken has a perfect little crunch and the orange sauce it delicious! I made red peppers and broccoli as well. Delicious!
My fiancé loved it!! ☺️ Very delicious
How many servings in the Orange chicken?
I love how simple and delicious this recipe is. For someone who feels intimidated by cooking chinese dishes that’s a huge thing for it to be this easy! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I had trouble getting the chicken just right due to timing, but this sauce is so spot on to take out it’s crazy, I actually even added the zest and orange peel into the sauce to make it more orangey., I always hate when you get orange chicken and you can hardly taste the orange. Will try again with the chicken to get it just right. 💚
Made this tonight. Didn’t “bread” the chicken and was still amazing! All three of my boys and the husband said it was amazing! Will be adding this to our regular rotation! Thanks for a great recipe!
I just made this tonight and it was delicious. Thank you
I have two things to share:
1) The first time I was making this recipe (and I was super excited, by the way) I thought everything was going well…until I cut into my zested orange and discovered that it was a grapefruit! 🤦♀️
2) My second attempt (actually using an orange) turned out delicious! I love the sauce and it is so nice to be able to order in now. 😉 Thank you for sharing this.
OMG! I love this recipe. The sauce is the perfect combination, I added a little honey in mine. Thank you!
Could not have turned out better. Definitely will he making this again. Puts the Chinese restaurant to shame.
Made this recipe tonight and it was absolutely delicious. I agree it is way better than any take out. This is a definite keeper. I used fresh squeezed orange juice. I can’t wait to make it again. Thank you!!!!
How many oranges did it take u
This is absolutely beautiful. I used Kikomens all purpose soy sauce. Thanks.
This is amazing. I had never been a fan of orange chicken til I tried this recipe. It will be a regular meal around here! Thank you!
This is an excellent sauce! I’m making it again tonight – thank you for such tasty recipes.
Excellent! I cut the sugar in half & the sauce was perfect. I also sauteed some sliced carrots & mushrooms in some oil, soy sauce & orange juice, then added them to the chicken at the end. My husband said it’s one of his favorite meals!
This was a hit with my whole family! I have seen people write that on other recipes and would try them in hopes it would be the same for us, but it never was… Until this recipe. Everyone loved it! I made a few adjustments. I left out the red pepper flakes for the sake of my two youngest who don’t like spicy food. But I should have added it to mine and hubbies as I know we would have liked it. I replaced coconut aminos for soy sauce and coconut flour for corn starch and flour. I also used small pieces of pork chops instead of chicken because I didn’t have any chicken and didn’t want to run to the store. Also, I added sautéed broccoli. Everyone loved it! My kids were going bonkers over the fried pork chops before I could even finish the meal. Now going to see if I can find a honey chicken recipe on your site. Thanks!
Basically, you made a totally different meal!
Yours sounds pretty good as well. 😊
Best orange sauce recipe ever! I used fresh squeezed orange juice and didn’t have cornstarch so I used flour. I had some frozen popcorn chicken that I cook in the oven and then coated with the orange sauce. It was a hit, everyone loved it. Thanks!
The flavors are perfect! The ginger, orange, and a little kick – I was absolutely pleasantly surprised at how well this turned out. My teenager loved it also! Definitely keeping this in my aresenal. Love it love it love!
Hi April! I always find if my teenagers like a dish, I am doing something right! They can be picky for sure. Thank you for trying my recipe and taking the time to comment.
Do you cook the chicken before frying it?
This is amazing
Wondering if you ever jarred the sauce and if so how long would it last? Thanks
Came out looking great, only thing was that I might have added a bit too much orange zest, making it a little bit more orange-y than I would’ve liked.
Great recipe. Substited Banquet Chicken nuggets and ginger powder. Kids loved it. Easy to make, fast and easy cleanup. Thanks.
How many serving would you say this recipe makes?
Thank you much for this recipe! We’ve been craving orange chicken for some time now. It was so easy to make, and delicious! My husband loved it so we’re adding it to our list of fave recipes. ❤️
It was delicious, thank you. But a bit too sweet, we will cut down some of the sugar as it was too sweet for my family but the taste is superb. Thank you.
How many people does this recipe serve? I have between 15 and 25 people to serve
So good! Coronavirus means Trader’s is all out of our favorite quick meal. We have extra time at home now so we made this and now we will never make the frozen alternative! So good!! My kids loved it!
I haven’t tried this recipe but I’m very excited to! Is it possible to make the chicken beforehand and possibly freeze it? Just trying to think of ways to speed up the dinner making process yet still having this in the regular rotation. Looking forward to trying this regardless. Thank you!
What weight do you have in mind when you say 4 chicken breasts, since chicken breast sizes vary widely? I’m trying to figure out the amount of chicken thigh meat to put in as a substitute.
Very yummy and was a hit at my family dinner
Should you use fresh ginger root, ground ginger, or dried ginger?
This was so good and really simple. My husband is now requesting that I make this often. It was nice that there are minimal ingredients and I had all f them in my panty so it was super simple. Thanks for the delicious meal.
I don’t normally bother rating recipes, but this was so good you really should try it. I recommend doubling the sauce like many other reviewers suggest – it was that tasty and could be used for other dishes. It is a little on the sweet side, so I’ll probably reduce the sugar the next time I make this – and I will be making it again. Much better than my local Chinese takeout place.
Simple and easy to make but so amazing! Family and friends loved it!!!!
Tried this amazing recipe for the first time last night, and it was delicious! I subbed in lemon zest (didn’t have an orange), which gave the sauce a zippier citrus taste. Next time, I think I’ll add in some sauteed onions, bell peppers, and cayenne peppers to give it a little extra heat. Thank you for putting this takeout classic into my home cookbook!
I was unsure on ginger used fresh grated. Really loved the recipe and will use again. I used fresh oranges that I squeezed will double up on that as I found just a little too sweet. Brilliant recipe though. Much better than a take out
Amazing recipe! Big hit with the family. I used chicken breast the first time and chicken thighs the second time. Thighs wins. Much more flavorful even though either way it’s amazing. Made some rice, added veggies and egg for fried rice feel. Soooo good. Thank you.
This was great…and gone shortly after making. The only changes, which I don’t believe change the integrity of the recipe, are…(1) added salt to the egg mixture and (2) used apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar (which I didn’t have). Wonderful recipe!!!
Also, I used boneless chicken thighs. Will definitely use them again. Very tender bites!
This was such EXCELLENT recipe….I’m glad I made enough for left overs! Far better then take out….a NEW FAVORITE!!!!❤️
Thank you👍👍😀😀
The orange chicken turned out so yummy. Based on the comments, I did make some modifications. I doubled the sauce recipe, cut the sugar in half (that amount seemed to be just right) used fresh ginger (wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be powdered) and to thicken the sauce, I used flour since I didn’t have cornstarch. Someone mentioned in a comment that 1 Tbsp of cornstarch is equal to 2 Tbsp of flour and that worked for me. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!!
I am 12 and I made this for my family while they were shopping and they can home to the best orange chicken ever!
We are going to add that to our dinner rotation my siblings and parents LOVED IT!
I am 12 and I made this for my family while they were shopping and they can home to the best orange chicken ever!
We are going to add that to our dinner rotation my siblings and parents LOVED IT! I would recommend this to any body who likes food, if you don’t like food you will probably still like it.
Does anyone have pro tips for frying tbis chicken without oilt thermometer please? Thanks!
Can you fry the chicken in a deep fryer instead of a pan? Looking for new recipes and love getting orange chicken to go.
So so good. Added more red pepper for heat. Sharing your recipe with my friends.
Wonderful recipe! I made a couple of small changes to it but it is still a very good, flavorful, standalone recipe. Rather than frying the chicken, I grilled it with a little salt, pepper, garlic and ginger powder which turned out really good when mixed with the sauce! I also sauteed a bag of mixed veggies and tossed them in with at the end for some extra components!
I stopped going to Chinese restaurants long ago and make my own sweet and sour chicken and teriyaki chicken, but I have never made orange chicken. Pretty darn good. I would have had more sauce if I hadn’t been test tasting over and over again but it was delicious. It’s amazing how simple and tasty homemade sauce is.
Recipe is a keeper for sure! Followed the instructions step by step and it was yummy. I didn’t have to add to it at all. Compliments to the chef 🙂
For six people should it be doubled?
What’s the best oil to use for the chicken? Vegetable or Olive?
Great recipe!!! The family loved it!! I used 8 chicken thighs and doubled the sauce. Used 4 eggs and 1 cup flour and 1 cup cornstarch for the chicken
This came out amazing! I used fresh squeezed oranges for the orange juice and vegetable oil for frying. It comes out pretty spicy though so next time I will probably use a little less of the red chili flakes. Absolutely delicious!
This was beyond delicious! When I asked my son what he wanted for dinner and he said orange chicken my first thought was gross. I hate that fake flavor. I looked at many recipes and then found this. Juice from oranges off our tree and it was absolutely amazing. Wouldn’t change a thing about. Served over rice with steamed broccoli. So good, will definitely make again.